Archive
ARETHA FRANKLIN
The Queen of Soul from 14 to 76
Aretha
RHINO/ATLANTIC
9/10
Timed to coincide with the biopic starring Jennifer Hudson, Aretha doesn’t start with its subject’s legendary first album for Atlantic Records in 1966, which not only made her a star but redefined soul music. Nor does it open with her debut for Columbia Records six years earlier, when she was 18 and doing standards sets similar to her hero Dinah Washington. Instead, it opens with the 14-yearold Aretha shaking the walls of her father’s church with “Never Grow Old” in 1956, and it’s clear she had not only remarkable power at a young age but also remarkable control. Aretha shows how she assimilated gospel, jazz, R&B, pop and even opera into a distinctive sound, which makes this set dizzyingly diverse. But Aretha’s mighty voice ties everything together.